Associated PressLaMarcus Aldridge dunks for two of the14 points he scored in the Blazers' preseason opener against the Lakers last night.

The five most interesting stories, rumors and notes in the NBA:

1. Aldridge's new game? The big buzz in Southern California about last night's Blazers-Lakers preseason game was about who wasn't in the game. The headline on the Orange County Register's game story probably summed things up: "Bryant, Howard sit out Lakers' exhibition loss."

Likewise, the Associated Press spends 10 of the first 11 paragraphs of its game story on the Lakers.

The AP, though, does get in a third-paragraph reference to Blazers rookie Damian Lillard, who had 14 points and seven assists in his first NBA action. For us in Portland, Lillard was the main topic as he shook off a nervous with an at-times dazzling performance, The Oregonian's Joe Freeman reports.

The Blazers' other notable performance was by All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, in his first outing in coach Terry Stotts' offense. Aldridge had 14 points (six on free throws) and eight rebounds while shooting 4 for 12 from the field.

Many of us have wondered how Aldridge's offensive game would change under Stotts, who is a big believer in motion, moving the ball and trusting the pass. Aldridge's rise to All-Star status has been fueled by the development of his post game, but if last night is any indication, we might not see as many isolated post-ups with Aldridge as we did under Nate McMillan.

Here's a breakdown of all 12 of Aldridge's field goal attempts last night:

So it seems we will see less of the straight, slower post-up iso game we've seen out of Aldridge the last two seasons. That created a lot of standing around by the other players, and at times, Aldridge held the ball for a long time, waiting to see if a double-team would come.

We saw none of that last night, and Aldridge took his shots fairly decisively. He missed several he would normally make, forced a couple, but it was a different look.

It was just one game, of course, and Stotts has said he does not want to take away from what Aldridge does well, so it will be interesting to see how the game of Portland's best player evolves.

2. New rivalry: Around here, we've seen the start of Aldridge vs. Love. Nationally, we see LeBron vs. Durant. Team-wise, there's Lakers-Clippers, Lakers-Celtics, Knicks-Nets and so on.

Here's the background, from TheBigLead.com's Jason McIntyre. Van Gundy, who was fired by the Orlando Magic as coach, was a candidate to join ESPN's "NBA Countdown" show. It seemed like a great fit as ESPN's NBA studio stuff can be painfully dull compared to TNT's, and Van Gundy is refreshingly forthright very much like his brother, Jeff, who is ESPN's lead color commentator.

But McIntyre reports that Stern objected to ESPN hiring Van Gundy, with whom he has had some strong media back-and-forth during Van Gundy's Magic stint. The Worldwide Leader said it could not agree on a role for Van Gundy and went in "another direction."

Van Gundy, in an radio interview with Miami's The Ticket (transcribed by McIntyre), let ESPN have it, calling the "role" stuff "BS," adding:

"What I find fascinating … you have to give David Stern and the NBA a lot
of credit … ESPN pays the league, and then the league tells them what
to do. It’s more ESPN’s problem. You gotta have no balls whatsoever to
pay someone hundreds of millions of dollars and let them run your business."

"Yes, I’ve been an Orioles fan since I was 8 years old," Anthony tells Berman. "I’ve never been a Yankee fan. I support some guys on the team. I have
mixed feelings now. Here in New York, you got to support the Yankees.’"

"I don’t care about the Sixth-Man race," Smith said. "I haven’t been
the finalists for that in the last six years. That’s not even a thought
process of mine. I’ve been coming off the bench, so I’ll keep doing
it."

Many in the New York media believe Woodson (who wouldn't say) will start camp invitee Mychel Thompson at shooting in the Knicks' preseason opener against Washington tonight. Thompson played for Cleveland last season and grew up in Lake Oswego and is the son of former Blazers center Mychal Thompson and brother the Golden State's Klay Thompson.

There's a belief that Thompson won't even make the Knicks' opening-day roster, which shows just how determined Woodson is to have Smith come off the bench.

4. Sequestered Kings: For those of us looking for updates on how former University of Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks is doing in his return to the NBA with Sacramento, well, the reports out of the Kings' training camp have been sparse, but there's a good reason.

The exercise reminds me of Nate McMillan's first season in Portland, when he moved training camp to Linfield College in McMinnville. McMillan quickly discovered what he was facing when Darius Miles and Zach Randolph missed the bus to McMinnville, then after learning they would have roommates for the week, checked themselves out of their McMinnville rooms.

Smart's move seemed to go better, and the Kings debuted last night with a 102-96 win over Phoenix. Brooks played just 6:38 and had four points as Smart used incumbent Isaiah Thomas as his starting point guard. But the Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones writes that Smart intends to mix and match his players throughout the preseason, so Brooks might still get a crack at being the opening-day starter.

"Like I told the players at shootaround, don't buy into what lineup you
see out there," Smart tells Jones. "I'm going to put guys on the floor; next game I might
start someone else."5. Blazing a (recruiting) trail: In May 2011, Portland native Damon Stoudamire made what seemed a surprising move, joining the staff of University of Memphis coach Josh Pastner as an assistant coach. For two years, he was on Lionel Hollins' staff with the Grizzlies as an assistant charged with player development, scouting and recruiting.